As the fallout from Inter’s goalless draw against Udinese continues, referee Fabio Maresca has come under fire from former official Luca Marelli.
Maresca was at the centre of a number of controversies at the Dacia Arena yesterday after failing to show Udinese midfielder Tolgay Arslan a second yellow card for a challenge on Romelu Lukaku and sending Inter coach Antonio Conte off in stoppage time.
This led to a furious exchange between Conte and Maresca in the tunnel after the final whistle, and Marelli took to his own YouTube account to criticise the decision to award the match to Maresca.
“I was perplexed at Maresca being given this fixture, he is one of the best referees but is not having a good season,” Marelli opined.
“I didn’t like his performance in his last match [AC Milan’s 2-0 victory over Torino] and he didn’t convince me yesterday. I saw him making mistakes and being unable to convey his authority on the players as the tension grew.
“Telling Conte ‘You have to accept it when you don’t win’ is wrong and a dangerous expression. He has a notebook, he should write everything down there and leave it in his match report.”
However, Marelli was also critical of Conte following his outburst at the referee and questioned why the Inter coach had attempted to convince Maresca to overturn his decision to only award four minutes of stoppage time.
“There is no way that a referee can change his decision on the additional stoppages and you must not insist on it. I wonder what managers and coaches want to achieve with these kinds of attitudes at the end of matches.”
Conte is facing a touchline ban following his red card and will be unavailable for Inter’s Serie A clash against Benevento next Saturday.
